2 Samuel 12:12 (DRB)

Passage

For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun.

Nearby Context

2 Samuel 12:10 Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Urias the Hethite to be thy wife.

2 Samuel 12:11 Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes and give them to thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

2 Samuel 12:12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of the sun.

2 Samuel 12:13 And David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die.

2 Samuel 12:14 Nevertheless, because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, for this thing, the child that is born to thee, shall surely die.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "didst", "secretly", "sight", and "israel". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "didst", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "Thus saith the Lord Behold I will..." into verse 13's "And David said to Nathan I have...", so "thou" and "didst" belong inside that flow. In 2 Samuel context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "didst" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.